Ruby Colored Converse
by mennis
Summary: Ruby Solange is on her lunch break, when she meets a man that calls himself the Doctor. Soon enough, both Ruby and the Doctor will discover a special connection between them that will encompass their unknown pasts and make them question their future.
1. Chapter 1

Ruby had often caught herself wondering why everyday of her life looked the same

Ruby had often caught herself wondering why everyday of her life looked the same. She wakes up, fixes herself some cereal, and then brushes her teeth. Then she puts on her uniform, and walks to her job at the local grocery store. After a six hour shift she goes home and eats a small, most likely microwave, supper. At night she goes to sleep without even the excitement of dreams.

It was another boring day in London, and Ruby was on her lunch break, outside in front of the store. While sitting on a bench she opened up a grubby paper bag and took out the same sandwich that she has been eating everyday, ever since she found this ruddy job. Peanut butter and jelly was her 12:00 torment. After she finished her miniscule lunch she went to go back inside to finish her shift, but a man jumped in front of her blocking her path.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you!" The man had brown hair that seemed to stand up on end, and he was wearing a blue suit and a pair of bright red Converse. Even with his big hair, the man was taller than Ruby, which wasn't saying much. She was about 5' 3" and had hair that would change from a medium shade of brunette to a dirty blonde. Everyday it was a different color.

"Why can't I go in there?" she demanded.

"Bad weather." He threw a large piece of wadded up plastic at her and said, "Put that on if you really want to go in." There was a loud crashing sound coming from the inside of the grocery store and Ruby recognized that noise from so many rainy nights before. "They already started the storm! They couldn't have waited? No, of course not! Well are you going to put that on or what?" Ruby quickly opened up the plastic to discover that it was a poncho. She thrust it over her head and cursed the practically invisible armholes that left her trapped in the entangling plastic. She gave up and took the poncho off and threw it to the ground in frustration.

"Who exactly are you," Ruby asked, because this man puzzled her in so many ways, not to mention he seemed to be holding some odd glowing screwdriver.

"I'm the Doctor." He walked through the doors without another word, but Ruby wanted another word. What kind of joke was he pulling? She wanted to know his real name and what storm he was talking about, because that thunder crash couldn't have made sense. She ran in through the doors and even though the automatic doors opened up she was still ankle deep in water. With rain pouring onto her head it was like the water was trapped in the building. She ran forward through the unnecessary second pair of doors and saw "The Doctor" waiting for her by the shopping carts. "What's your name?"

"Ruby Solange. What's yours," she persisted.

"I told you, I'm The Doctor. Now tell me, where is your boss' office," he was demanding, but she was not that easily pushed over.

"Why do you need to know? Did you do this?"

"I didn't do this, and there's a good chance that the thing that did is in your boss' office." He was getting angry and he took out a wallet and flipped it open to a white piece of paper that told Ruby he was the police.

Something about this wasn't right but Ruby reluctantly used her keys to open a door with stairs behind it. By this time she was glad to be ascending because the water level had reached halfway up her calf. The Doctor practically ran up the stairs and pushed her out of the way. "Hey!" She ran up the stairs because she wanted to keep an eye on this Doctor so he didn't make the situation worse. The Doctor stopped at the locked door and pointed the weird glowing device that he was holding towards the doorknob, and in seconds he threw the door open to reveal one of the scariest things that Ruby had ever seen. It was like a robot, it was entirely metal and had a long stick-like protrusion from what looked like its face, with what looked like a suction cup on the end of it. Even though Ruby was scared she still had her personality rise to the surface.

"What is that around the bottom of it? Metallic bubble wrap? What is it anyway?" The Doctor looked at her and she caught the tiniest glimpse of a curious expression on his face, but it soon went back to being serious.

"They're called Daleks." He faced the dalek again and sort of started pacing around it. "So, what now? You've stooped so low as to attack grocery stores, and with what? A bit of rain?"

The dalek started to speak and for some odd reason Ruby quivered at the sound of it. "It is the Doctor. I must exterminate." Its raspy electronic voice did scare Ruby but it seemed that in every frightening situation she had to laugh. The dalek turned to her and so did the Doctor with even more curiosity in his expression.

"What's so funny," the Doctor asked.

"I think this dalek needs a cough drop," she smiled and the Doctor started talking again.

"But, really, why rain? Oh wait I see! You were hoping to create a massive storm around the entire planet and flood it and therefore drowning every human being on the planet." A smile creeped onto the Doctor's face and she waited for the explanation behind that smile. "But you did something. You did the most human thing of all. You made a mistake! Ha!" He jumped up and down. "Tell me, how did it feel to make a mistake? But you don't have feelings. God, how I wish you did, because then I could see this little mistake elicit the explosion of emotions that would radiate off of you. I would finally get to see you suffer." The Doctor was positively fuming and was staring right down the dalek's "face."

"Where was I though? Oh yeah, the mistake. What kind of mistake did you make, eh? Instead of it raining outside, it's raining inside of every single building on the planet, which means that people can get out. Right now there are people running out of this building in a frenzy of fright and will undoubtedly question what had just happened but will also do the one thing that humans have been doing for thousands of years. They will survive."

The dalek spoke once more, "The Weather Generator has been built wrong. It will be fixed."

"Weather Generator?! Weather Generator! Oh, come on! You've got to be more original! Hold on a second!" He paused and thought about something and then turned to face Ruby. "Can you swim?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now swim down the stairs and go to the freezers, and once you pass through that door you'll find a very large machine. Look for a latch on it. Once you've opened that latch you can shut it down. Here take this." He handed Ruby the odd glowing wand that he used before to unlock the door. "It's a sonic screwdriver. Just press this button right here and you'll be able to unlock any thing and shut down the Weather Generator." Ruby stood there in shock until he yelled, "Go! I'll deal with him."

Ruby ran to the door and wrenched it open to find that the water level had risen considerably since she last was on this staircase. Four steps in front of her was water that she prayed to God was not cold. Her prayers weren't answered as she stuck her shoe in and the water soaked through to her toes, but she sucked it up and plunged into the water and swam down through the open door that led to the public part of the store. Ruby surfaced and looked around to see nothing but walls and swam to the area of the building where the freezers were. The water was at least ten degrees colder but she didn't turn back and kept a firm grip on the still glowing sonic screwdriver. Taking in as much air that was physically possible, she swam down under the water. Her face experienced an odd sensation underneath the water and she could here a soft metallic humming sound. She looked around for the large steel door and found it locked. Ruby pressed her thumb down on the button that resided on the side of the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the lever that was firmly locked in its position to keep intruders out. In a matter of seconds the lever shifted out into its unlocked position and Ruby wrenched open the door. The water stung her eyes and bit along her skin with its ice like temperature. On the other side of the freezer she could see a large metal cube. It seemed too simple to be causing this much trouble. She swam near it and as she got closer the humming sound grew louder and louder in her ears and she looked around it for a latch. She found what looked like a latch and pointed the sonic screwdriver at it and it popped open to reveal an intricate weaving of wires and other odds and ends. She stuck the sonic screwdriver inside of the Weather Generator and left it there. She could feel her lungs practically shriveling as the loud noise of the box started to soften back down to a hum. When the humming finally stopped Ruby's vision became blurred as her weak arms tried to push herself towards the door. Her hand landed on the door and she couldn't push it open. She was too weak to do anything except knock on the door as loud as she could. Just before everything went dark, she felt a warm pair of hands grabbing her arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Her lungs were burning until she let out a cough and felt water flow up her trachea and out of her mouth

Her lungs were burning until she let out a cough and felt water flow up her trachea and out of her mouth. A long and sharp gasp filled her lungs with the crisp air that they so desperately needed. Another gasp and she was coherent with eyes wide open. She was lying face up on the pavement in front of her job, and there was a sharp pain in her face. "You didn't have to slap my face," her throat scratched, and she heard a laugh above her. It was the Doctor. He looked like he was just saved from something even though she was the one that almost died. He held out a hand to help her up she took it gratefully. His hand was so warm, just like the hands that had grabbed her in the water. "Were you the one that got me out of the water?"

"Yup. Here have something to eat and I've also got a blanket for you. Put it on, quick." He handed her a very warm blanket as she shivered under her wet hair. He then handed her a paper plate of buffalo chicken. She stared at it and quickly sat down and started to devour the heavenly food.

"So what happened while I was under water?" Ruby asked.

"Well, I started to talk to the dalek and then I wasted my time talking and he got away. That's when I felt the water around my ankles." She was on her third piece now and was still listening to the Doctor all the same. "Needless to say, I dived in the water and got you out onto the pavement. Started slapping your face and then gave you mouth to mouth. You woke up and I gave you a blanket and some buffalo chicken, that has now vanished from the face of the planet."

"Whoa! Back up a bit! You gave me mouth to mouth!?" If he hadn't just saved her life then this situation might have been different, but she still felt her heart skip a beat.

"Yeah, I did. But I am truly amazed." He looked right at her and she noticed a light sparkle in his brown eyes. "You were absolutely brilliant in there! I didn't expect that you would be able to do it. You've got a lot of will power in you, Ruby." The sparkle faded from his eyes almost too quickly, and Ruby looked down at your shoes, trying to figure out a way to break the hiatus in the conversation.

"So what exactly is a dalek, just some scary looking robot?"

"Excuse me? Scary? You didn't seem to be frightened at all!" His laughter was nice. It was the perfect laughter that was almost pure happiness that radiated off and flowed into her body. She couldn't help but grin as the Doctor continued talking. "Well, daleks are aliens that contain no emotion what so ever. They can't wrap their complicated minds around the idea of good and evil. They don't understand that human emotions are what make them so unique and successful. Daleks consider themselves superior and are always trying to actually make a top rank for themselves. If they could kill God, they probably would try." The Doctor stared towards the parking lot with pure hatred in his face without actually seeing it.

"Then what are you? I mean, I know that you are the Doctor, but _what _are you?" Ruby hugged the blanket around her as a breeze swept across her face and shoulders.

The Doctor turned his head and looked at her. "I am a time lord. I have been around for a good 900 years and I've seen it all and lost it all. Traveling through time really does change a person's view of the world." Once again his eyes held that little twinkle that made her lungs malfunction. "I could take you somewhere if you'd like."

"Why not? It'd be nice to actually do something." Ruby had no choice but to believe this man because she wanted to leave this god-forsaken city and do something adventurous.

"Great! Follow me!" This man had the energy level of a child. He grabbed her hand and ran out of the parking lot. Ruby still couldn't understand why his hand was so warm. It was the one thing that was keeping her attached to reality, while her feet were practically flying to keep up with his speed. She still couldn't believe that this was happening, but the warmth of his hand was telling her that this was all very real and that her entire life was going to change. For better or for worse, she didn't know.

"Okay, now I am truly doubting your sanity." Ruby looked back in front of her at a bright blue police call box. "This is a telephone booth."

"It's called the Tardis."

"It's a telephone booth." She looked back at him for even the hint of a joke. He was smiling all right but he was still being completely serious.

"It can go to different worlds, different times, or right across the street if you're too lazy to walk."

"But it's a telephone booth."

"I actually tried it once. Turned out to be a complete waste of five minutes. But I did find out how good bananas were."

"It's a telephone booth."

"No, really. When I got to the other side of the street there was a man there selling bananas. I bought one to quiet my mumbling belly, when someone walked up to me and didn't know what it was. Well, poor fellow didn't have any money to buy one so I gave it to him. Needless to say, I made that man's day! I mean really how could a banana not cheer someone up. A full lifetime later I met an entire group of people that had never seen one before, either. Absolutely stunned, they were." Ruby just stared at the peculiar man in front of her and waited for something more interesting to come out of his mouth, but all that she heard was, "Well, come on then, ladies first."

Ruby placed her hand on the front of the door and it silently opened to reveal, not a small cramped little room but a colossal sized room that caused Ruby's mouth to drop open. "This is not a telephone booth."

"You're right it isn't!"

"What it is is bloody brilliant!"

"It's time lord science. Really boring and complicated stuff, not worth wasting five minutes over." He walked over to the center of the room were this giant glowing machine stood. "So where would you like to go? Future? Past? The extremely empty planet of Galliphrey? Or maybe, we could go to the Land of OZ. It actually exists you know."

Even though this was something that was completely unbelievable, Ruby still had some spark in her mind that was telling her to wait. Wait for something to tell her that this wasn't a dream or a hallucination. "Well why don't we go to the 15th century, ya know, Elizabeth the first and all that."

"That'll be interesting." Ruby didn't ask why because she didn't want to know. "But you you're from America aren't you?"

"Yeah, I was born in London, raised in America and never told about the fact that I was born in another country. When I found out I was pretty angry so I sort of ran away to here."

"Since you grew up in America, could you tell me what grits are?"

"It's like little tiny bits of wheat or corn or something like that."

"What about hot dogs? What are they really made of?"

"No one really know, but I think that if we did know, they just wouldn't taste as good." The Doctor laughed and then Ruby asked, "How long was I out?"

He looked at this watch and said, "Oh, about three hours." He watched Ruby let out a long yawn. "You've had an exciting day, Ruby. Why don't we go see the queen tomorrow, because right now you could use some sleep. Shall I show you to your room?"

"Why not?" The Doctor was right. Ruby was dead tired and she needed some sleep. Maybe, just maybe, she would wake up to find that this whole otherworldly fiasco was a dream. Probably not though.

"Right then, follow me. Stay close though, you might get a little lost." The Doctor started to walk out of the huge metallic room, and into what looked like a hallway. After about five minutes of staring at the beige walls, the Doctor took an unexpected turn and Ruby was left staring at another beige hallway. This went on for what felt like a half hour, until Ruby ran into the Doctor.

"Could you have at least given me a warning that you were going to stop?"

"Well, here's your room. Don't suppose you'll need anything, it should be all in there." He opened the door for her, and she wasn't surprised by the vastness of the room before her, but was astounded by the decoration. She had just walked out of a boring hallway and into a Victorian time zone. The intricate carvings all over the mahogany dresser matched those of the desk that sat on the right side of the room. The other side of the room was completely occupied with a four-poster bed with bed curtains. Everything was a mixture of reds and browns. There was a group of overstuffed chairs in the corner surrounding the hearth of a beautiful fireplace with a raging fire inside of it. There was a stereo and a computer but they had been modified to match the décor of the room. Everything about it was breathtaking.

"Sound travels really well in here so if you ever need anything, just give a yell. I'm right down the hall if you need me for anything. If you're being attacked by mutants or you just need a glass of water."

"Now when you say right down the hall, do you mean a couple doors down or a couple miles down the hall?"

"Oh, you have a sense of humor. Won't that be fun? I mean a few doors down. This is the bedroom part of the Tardis. Well, see you in the morning, then."

All of this was too surreal for Ruby to grasp. Everything felt real and looked real, but her mind was telling her otherwise. Too tired to ponder her situation anymore, she walked over to the dresser and opened the drawers to find them enchanted with time lord science. She was looking down on a closet. She fingered through the clothes that hung downward and was astounded at the amount of woman's clothing that he had in this place. She opened up a second drawer and found the pajamas. After she put on a T-shirt and a pair of boxers she snuggled herself beneath the covers. The bed was probably twice the size of a King size and even with that in mind, she curled up into a warm little ball on the side of the bed, and drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

She was running and it felt like she'd never stop

She was running and it felt like she'd never stop. She weaved in and out of a line of trees and scraped her left shoulder on another twig, but it didn't stop her. She sneaked a glance behind her and saw them on her tail. They had gotten the children and some of the adults, but they wouldn't catch her. She kicked off her shoes to give herself an advantage, as the small heels were making it difficult to run in the forest. She saw a sparkle in front of her and as she got closer she realized that it was a lake. Quickly she got into the water. She could stay in the water but the Daleks couldn't touch it. With her head above the water she looked down at her reflection in the rippling water. Her large brown curls cascaded down to her waist and her blue eyes seemed to reflect the blues of the dark sky above her. She was wearing a dress with a corset top and it was ripped and torn from the twigs snagging at it. The yellow fabric was blood stained and burnt from the Daleks narrowly missing her with their guns. When she got back she would be safe. The Daleks came floating towards her and she threw herself under the water. Once they left she would get out. She looked up and waited. They weren't leaving. No of course they weren't, they wanted to finish her off. Her lungs burned but she didn't dare come up for air and give up to the Daleks. She fought the urge to live.

"Ruby!"

She awoke with unshed tears at the corners of her bloodshot eyes. The Doctor had shaken her awake and his eyes were wide with fear. Her lungs once again turned cold as she took a breath of fresh air. He placed one of his hands on her back and the other on her stomach so that he could hoist her in an upright position. Ruby put her face in her hands as she caught her breath. The Doctor took his hand off of her stomach and grabbed a glass of water.

When he offered it to her she gently pushed the glass away. "No, not water. Anything but water." Her dream was still too real for her to allow herself near any water.

"Well let me guess. When I came in here to wake you up you weren't breathing, and your face was sorta going red, and then purple. You weren't really thrashing, but you were twitching and jerking. Now, if you add in your reluctance to drink water I think that means that you had a dream that you were drowning," he paused for a moment, staring at Ruby. "Well, am I right?"

Ruby didn't let out a smile or answer for the next minute or so. She finally looked up and asked him the one question that completely caught him off guard. "What exactly is a Dalek? I mean what do they want with us?"

"Well, Daleks are…well first of all they're not really all tin and metal like you saw yesterday. That's more of a protective shell that surrounds the real Dalek. It's something so fragile and delicate."

"Can't you just get inside of them somehow and get to that one weak spot?" Ruby asked.

"If you could find me a way to do that, I would…I would probably kiss you." He quickly changed the subject, causing Ruby to smirk. "Daleks can only be opened up by themselves. Everything inside of them is operated by themselves and there had never been anyone to even come close to discovering how they do it," the Doctor's face became stern and his lips thinned. "But what they want with us is nothing. They don't want anything to do with us. They consider us weak and lesser just because we're different. I would say that they fear change, but they don't have fear. All they have is hate and the desire to kill everything and everyone that isn't like them." Ruby glanced down and that his hands were curled into white-knuckled fists. His face was taught and from where she was sitting she could her him grinding his teeth. His deep brown eyes held a burning fire inside of them.

Ruby dared to speak, just to make him stop, to calm him down. "Doctor? You're scaring me," her voice shook slightly

He slowed down his breathing and met her gaze. "I'm sorry. I just…why did you bring it up anyway?" He was curious now.

"Well they were in my dream. There were a lot of them though. I'd say about six of them were chasing me through the woods. They had killed everyone else, all of the children too. They were tailing me. Well, it wasn't me, but at the same time it was. I looked completely different, but was still myself. Now, as I was running I was wearing a very old styled dress so I'd say that it was a few hundred years ago. I saw a lake and I jumped in it to get away and hid beneath the water. They were waiting though, waiting for me to resurface, and I wouldn't. I didn't want to be killed by them. I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of killing me themselves."

The doctor raised one eyebrow and said, "Are your dreams always like this?"

"No, not at all. I don't normally have dreams. Oh well, it was just a dream anyways. I'm just being stupid." She adjusted her body to make herself more comfortable and only then did the Doctor take his hand off of her back. With the absence of is hand, the small of her back felt oddly cold. She sat cross-legged on top of the bed and asked, "So what's for breakfast? I am starving."

The Doctor smiled and said, "Well I was thinking we could have omelettes. I make them with practically anything you want and cheese that melts so perfectly-"

"Eww," she cut him off. "Cheese is the antichrist! It's so deceiving!"

The Doctor stared at her for a split second and then burst out laughing. "Wow! I haven't laughed like that since…" He stopped in the middle of his sentence and looked down with a sad blank look on his face. It was the quickest change in mood since her mother's PMS. But if a man acts like this then there's something wrong.

"What is it?" Ruby asked. "What's wrong?" she said it softly enough to make him look up.

"Well I had this…friend, you see. Rose was her name. And she's…well she's gone," he spoke slowly as if it was painful for him to recall.

"I'm sorry. I can kinda relate as well. I had this boyfriend with the name of…um…Bob. Robert! Bobby!" The Doctor smiled and Ruby continued her story of her imaginary boyfriend. It seemed to cheer him up. "Yeah and so one day I turned to tell him he needed to tie his shoe and he wasn't there. He just disappeared into thin air." She reluctantly quenched her thirst with the water that the Doctor had brought her. "But really, I am sorry."

"Oh that's all right. I was the one to put a damper on the situation."

Ruby laughed and said, "Wasn't I the one who brought up the Daleks. Anyway, I'm hungry and besides, this is a completely innocent and easy way to change the subject. Now do you know how to make pancakes?"

So here he was. Making the batter for the fluffy breakfast food with Ruby sitting at the vast table behind him. While mixing the milk in, he got some batter in his suit. "Oh, come on!" He quickly cleaned it off, but still turned around and shook the wooden spoon at Ruby. "This," he indicated where the batter had fallen onto his jacket, "Is all your fault, you know? If you didn't think that cheese tasted bad." He turned back to the batter and started to mix the clumps out.

"I never said it tasted bad. I just said it was the antichrist."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ruby searching through cabinets and drawers. "But who doesn't like cheese? Unless you're lactose intolerant, which you are obviously not, because you are having me make pancakes with milk. Not liking cheese is almost as bad as not liking edible ball bearings. What are you doing?!" he exclaimed.

"I'm putting an apron on you so that you don't get anything on yourself. What does it look like I'm doing?" After slipping the loop over the Doctor's head she went around the back of him and started to tie the apron around his waist. She had quite the view before her, too. Unlike most men, the Doctor had a very nice bum. "I don't want to be held responsible for ruining your blue suit. It _is_ well tailored." Yet even as the Doctor turned to give her a chastising glare he found it quite funny that she was so blatant about her compliments.

"Your pancakes are ready." He took out a plate and slid the pancakes from the pan to the plate. With a bottle of syrup, he placed the plate in front of Ruby, who looked like she was about to bite into a slice of heaven.

After a few bites of the dessert-like breakfast, Ruby was suddenly aware of the Doctor's continuous stare. "Why aren't you eating? Are time lords like camels when it comes to food? You eat once and can live for days."

"Yeah, something like that. Sorry for the staring."

Ruby continued eating, only with an aim to tease the Doctor. She put the pancake onto the fork and tried to be as annoying as possible. "Look at its fluffy texture. It just soaks up that sweet syrup like a sponge," she teased. She put the food in her mouth and made very dramatic sounds to taunt him. "Mm! It's so good! Too bad you don't want any!"

He stared at her with his eyebrows raised and then got himself a glass of water. Then he downed the entire glass. "Ah, now _that_ is good! H2O!" he said with a mad grin that made laughter bubble out of Ruby's throat.

Still laughing, Ruby got up and washed her plate off. "Well, I'm going to get dressed. I'll be back." Ruby walked out of the kitchen and made her way down the hallway to her room. She had quickly gotten used to all of the crazy twists and turns and was there in a matter of minutes. After going through the drawers one more time she found a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with her favorite TV show on it. Life on Mars. After putting on the classic T-shirt and jeans combo, Ruby grabbed her iPod from yesterday's pant's pocket and attached it to the stereo system. She made her way to the bathroom and grabbed a toothbrush. She was rhythmically brushing her teeth when she heard a Billie Piper song come on. Ruby spit out the minty foam and quickly rinsed her mouth.

"I love this song!" she announced to no one. With a pivot of her wrist she hired the volume on the stereo and jumped around to the beat and started singing the words to her toothbrush. "Because we want to! Because we want to!" She jumped and kicked the air with the skill of her martial arts classes. "Why do you always say what's on your mind!" She jumped around in pure joy. "Because we want to! Because we want to!" She threw her head from side to side and bumped into something. When she turned around she realized that it was the Doctor. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"Because we want to! Because we want to!" He looked utterly ridiculous dancing about the room. "Come on! Why did you stop?"

"Stop what?"

Now he stopped dancing as well. "You were just dancing. Why'd you stop?"

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were, I just saw you-"

"Doing nothing."

"But you were singing and-"

"Doing **nothing** and definitely not singing."

"So you're saying that-"

"You just walked in here, and saw **NOTHING** and started jumping around making a fool of yourself. Yup, that's exactly what I'm saying. Now come on let's go!" She marched out of the room with the Doctor close behind thinking of how strange his new companion was. He caught up to Ruby and she turned to him and asked, "So what exactly did you see me doing in there?"

"Well, I saw-"

"Nothing!"


	4. Chapter 4

After a short while, they were in the console room and the Doctor was around the heart of the Tardis spinning different knobs

After a short while, they were in the console room and the Doctor was around the heart of the Tardis spinning different knobs and pulling different levers. He always got a kick out of seeing the face of whomever he was with. They must think that it's so complicated, when in all reality all he had to do was set the date and lift one little lever. He looked over and saw Ruby looking at all of the things he was doing with an odd look on her face, like she was contemplating something. "What is it?"

Ruby looked up, "Huh? Oh, I just got a little case of déja vu." He pushed that last bar and the entire place shook. And once again he noticed something odd. Ruby had already braced herself as if she knew it was coming. She hadn't fallen over or even seemed the least bit startled by the fact that the ground beneath her feet was trembling uncontrollably. Her hands were clamped onto the railing that surrounded the console and her feet were firmly planted on the ground. It was like she knew.

When the TARDIS stopped, the Doctor's thoughts were distracted. He grabbed his trench coat and started towards the door, but an excited Ruby was also making her way out. He sped up and had an aim to beat her to it, but lost.

Ruby ran out the door but slipped and fell on account that there was unexpected snow on the ground. After landing on her backside, she looked up to find the Doctor smiling. "Well, come on, then. Help me up."

"You, see. If you had just let me get outside first, I could have warned you." He offered his hand. "And none of this would have happened." Ruby grabbed his outcast hand and pulled him down as well. She got up on her own and took is coat. "Hey! Ruby! Give that back!"

"You have long sleeves on. I don't."

"Now are you going to help me up!?"

Ruby gave him a sideways glance, "Pay back's a bitch."

"Alright I see your point." He got himself up but when he did he started to slip and grabbed onto Ruby for balance. Unfortunately, all he did was throw him and Ruby back down on the snow-covered ice.

"Well, what are we going to do now? Just sit here until someone helps us?"

"No. We're going to sit here and figure out where and when we are." Ruby looked at him with a slight smirk and he said, "It's much more fun than what _you_ had planned."

"Well, I don't know about that," she said. "It sounded pretty fun." The look that the Doctor gave her was one that made him think that she was completely mad. "I'm just joking, Doctor."

He ignored her and looked around. They were sitting on a hill that looked over all of London. "Well there's still the castle right there. It's a bit smaller but it's still there."

Ruby let out an exasperated grunt and said, "Which tells us nothing because Buckingham Palace has been around for centuries. We could be any when." She looked around and said, "Now let's see. There is no Globe Theatre, so we know that it's before 1599. And-"

"What's going on down there?" The Doctor slowly stood up as not to fall down again. There was a crowd of people gathered around a podium where someone seemed to be giving a speech.

"It looks like-" Ruby gasped and said, "I know what year it is."

The Doctor didn't bother to hide his skepticism, "Really?"

Ruby explained. "Well, if I am correct, the person at that podium is Princess Elizabeth. She is giving a public announcement. Judging by the height of the sun, and the length of her shadow, she's a little too short to be fully-grown. So that tells me that this announcement concerns the rumors going around about her and Thomas Seymour. She did this at age sixteen, which makes this the year 1549," Ruby smiled with pride.

The Doctor stood there with his mind in shock and she had to admit, he looked pretty cute. "I am impressed."

"When you are in America the only thing to watch is the History channel or Discovery channel. Believe me. There is nothing on TV."

The Doctor took a few moments to stare at her, but then they both noticed the crowd dissipating down below. He sat back down on the snow and took her hand.  
He looked directly at Ruby and stared right into her brown eyes. "Ready?" he asked.

"For what?" She watched his gaze go from her face to the bottom of the hill. "Oh, no!"

"One," he started.

"No you don't!"

"Two."

Ruby closed her eyes and fixed her grip onto his hand. As long as he didn't let go she might be all right.

"Three!" The Doctor pushed back with his left hand and slid down with Ruby in his right hand. He laughed as he descended with speed that whipped his tie around his front.

Ruby's hair was being blown behind her and despite her previous fright, she was smiling with the memories of sledding in her backyard as a kid. When her and the Doctor came to a stop, she suddenly felt a craving for hot chocolate with marshmallows. She laughed out loud when she found herself looking around for the sweet chocolaty beverage. She stood up and brushed off the back of the Doctor's coat. "Sorry about your coat," she said.

He really honestly didn't care. He brushed the snow off gingerly and continued to walk around. He really didn't know where he was going he was just thinking of Ruby. She was so…he didn't even know how to describe her. She was somewhere between interesting and just on the edge of annoying. But there was something strange about her. He just couldn't put his finger on it. No matter how much educational television that one watches they couldn't possibly figure out the exact year that the Tardis landed in. It was just not possible.

Ruby stopped by a pedestrian and said, "Excuse me, ma'am. Could you tell me what that speech was about? I arrived a bit late."

"Oh, nothing special. Just the princess trying to make amends with what's been going around."

"But what exactly have people been saying?"

"Don't you know?" asked the woman in surprise.

"Well, I've just arrived in London a few days ago."

"I thought as much. You didn't sound right." Ruby knew full well that her clothes had something to do with it too. "Well, if you must know, there hath been word of relations between Elizabeth and that Tom Seymour. The servants have seen Mr. Seymour making visit to the princess' bedchamber. Before she was even dressed no less! I've heard it going around, but before I tell you this I want you to mind that I don't know of its reliability. You see, there hath been a report of Tom slashing her dress in the castle gardens."

Ruby threw in a gasp and said, "But that doesn't sound like any of this was on the princess' part."

"Aye, I think that sir Seymour was taking advantage of the young Elizabeth."

Ruby thought for a moment, then said, "Was there anything else that princess Elizabeth spoke of?"

"Oh just an announcement of one of her gatherings at the castle. Reminding us that it takes place tonight. But what was she telling us for? We aren't about to show our faces in front of such company."

"Thank you for the information ma'am."

"Nice meeting you."

Ruby looked around for the Doctor, but when she turned around she found him right at her side. "Come on. Let's keep walking." You did, but the Doctor kept oddly close. "It's not good to be in one place too long on these streets. Especially alone."

Ruby listened to him and stayed by his side. He led her back to the TARDIS, all the while looking over his shoulder every few seconds. He pushed her into the door and closed Tardis door behind them.

"What was that for? Anyway, where are the dresses in this place?"

"We're not going."


	5. Chapter 5

"What

"What? Why? And wasn't there a coat rack there before?" Ruby noticed.

"Because bad things always happen whenever I'm in this time period. What are you talking about? I put that coat rack away a month ago," he said

"There was a coat rack there. I'm telling you I saw it? It was sitting right there." She pointed to the right side of the door. "What kind of bad things?" Ruby asked, now intrigued.

"Well, you must be delusional, because there was no coat rack there. It's hidden away in one of the closets. Let's see. First, there were hundreds of these ghosts that we had to kill that lived in the gas of the candles. And later we had to get rid of these three witches. Well, actually they weren't witches. They were called carionites. I'm taking you home."

"No you are not!" Ruby stood there with a determined expression on her face. "I will not go back to my cruddy job in London, or hometown in Connecticut. Why do you think I would want to leave this place? There's too much life in here." It was true. Every time Ruby stepped into the TARDIS she felt the excitement like little tiny electric shocks across her skin. It tingled with the very energy and vivacity that she had been looking for when she ran away from America. Ruby spread her arms out wide and inhaled deeply. Tons of different smells came through her nose. And they were all wonderful. She let it all out with a heavy sigh and said, "Don't you feel it?"

The Doctor only raised an eyebrow and said, "Okay." He sat down on the floor, for some odd reason that slightly amused Ruby. "Alright. We'll stay. But we're not leaving here until the party. You got that?"

"Perfectly." And with that she sat down beside him on the floor of the console room, and just looked at him. What was it about this strange man before that she felt so appealing and yet something scared her. She wasn't afraid of him exactly. Except whenever she caught the time to look at him, something about him was familiar. It wasn't his physical features, but the depth of his eyes. There was a history behind the emotion in those deep brown swirls of color. They confirmed his old age while his body was that of a man of thirty-five. The spirit that he held however was that of a ten year old boy on Christmas. The Doctor was all mixed up and Ruby thought that's what she liked about him but still she wasn't sure. It creeped her out to think of how familiar the man behind those chocolate eyes was.

Ruby was a different girl. He reminded her of Rose, but as the Doctor thinks that he finds huge differences. Ruby has a different quality about her that he just couldn't place his finger on. Not to mention with just a few words and stubborn personality, she was able to change his mind. But something wasn't right. He didn't remember her from any of his past lives, but there was something about her that he recognized. The life and spirit that she held attracted him. Ruby did remind him of Rose though. He had never been this curious about someone since her.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked. He was so good at hiding his feelings and yet this woman was able to see his every emotion.

"Nothing really. You just remind me of someone."

"Is it Rose?"

He stared at her for a moment and then said, "Yeah."

"That's funny because you remind me a bit of Billy. He was always bringing me to different places."

The Doctor's frown turned into a smile. "Didn't you say his name was Bobby?"

"Oh, yeah. I did, didn't I?" There was a silence and then both Ruby and the Doctor burst out laughing and ended up flat on their backs clutching their stomachs. Rocking back and forth Ruby's laughter turned silent and her face went a bit red. She caught her breath and wiped her eyes as she let out a few more breathy giggles. Still clutching her abdomen, she turned her body so that the side of her head was hugging the floor and watched the Doctor calm down.

His eyes were wet with tears of laughter and seemed to glitter in the light of the console room. His smile was something extraordinary, as if it was from another world. That's when she realized that he was from another world. He really was inhuman. A timelord. Why wasn't that weird? She only met him yesterday and today she traveled backwards in time. So, why did she feel like she could trust him with her life? Why was she so comfortable around a man with an occupation for a name? It baffled her, but she didn't feel the need to find the reason for her odd tranquility around him. As long as it existed, she wasn't going to meddle with her emotions to get to the bottom of it.

The Doctor turned his body to face Ruby. Thin strands of hair hung over her face and with a sharp exhale of breath, Ruby made them fly over her head and out of her face. He watched her roll onto her back and stare towards the ceiling. The doctor studied her profile and now he noticed how her long eyelashes framed her brown eyes, and how her hair had changed to a blonde in this light. Twenty minutes ago it was a light brunette.

"What?" Ruby laughed. She turned back towards the Doctor who was staring at her with a look on his face that couldn't have been anything beyond adorable. Before she knew it she felt his warm hand on her waist. She wouldn't have minded, she actually was enjoying it, but something was wrong. It was too soon for her taste, too personal, too intimate.

"Umm, I gotta go." Ruby got up and left his hand on the floor.

The Doctor pulled his hand back in an uncomfortable fashion and said, "Yeah. The party is at seven. You should probably get ready. Um, yeah." He pulled himself up off of the floor and walked to the console with his back towards Ruby, and pretended to be busy until he was absolutely sure that she was out of the room.

When the Doctor looked over his shoulder and didn't see Ruby, he walked over to the wall and started to hit his head against it. "You're not supposed to be doing that, Doctor," he scolded himself. He stopped injuring his head and started to pace around the glowing console. "You didn't even do that to Rose, why are you doing it now?" He used the palm of his hand to hit the side of his head. "Think. Think. Think. What is it about Ruby? Why does she seem so familiar to you?"

The Doctor sat down and put his head in his hands. He tried to go back into his memory. He separated himself from his body and actually walked through his mind as if it was a building filled with millions and billions of doors. But he knew all of these doors. They weren't anything special, just normal memories, as "normal" as his memories could get. It was driving him mad, whenever he looked at her. It triggered something inside of him and he didn't even know what to do.

After about an hour the Doctor yelled, "I'm going to wait right outside the Tardis!" Hopefully she heard it. He stepped outside and shuffled the snow with his feet as he waited for Ruby to come out. He didn't have to wait too long.

"Well don't you look nice?" The Doctor heard form behind him. "And I thought I liked your blue suit."

The Doctor was baffled. Ruby looked positively stunning. The dress that she was wearing was out of exactly that time period with its blue corset top and flowing skirt. The green embroidery and embellishments attracted his eye and he noticed that they were little flowers. Actually they were lilies entangled in thorny vines. He looked up at Ruby's hair and saw it pulled back into a bun with lose strands here and there that had been curled. She was looking at him with such happiness in her eyes. How could he have ever thought of bringing her back home?

The Doctor was so handsome in his tuxedo. She looked him over and noticed that he had black sneakers on his feet. She chuckled and saw a sparkle in his eye and for a split second there was something in his expression that seemed to be awe, but it was gone in no time. It was replaced with a smile of glee and for some reason Ruby felt as if that smile said something but she couldn't place it. It shouldn't have mattered to her. But it did.

"Brilliant! You look absolutely gorgeous."

The doctor then held out his arm and Ruby took it with a smile. "Allons-y, Doctor!"


	6. Chapter 6

Her lungs were burning until she let out a cough and felt water flow up her trachea and out of her mouth

The Doctor once more stared in wonder at his new companion and couldn't help grinning from ear to ear. He couldn't place what was building up inside of him. He hadn't felt this happy in a long time. Having her arm around his was enough to make his mind a little cloudy and his breathe a little short. And where in the world had she found that dress? He couldn't recall ever seeing it before and he knows of everything that is in the Tardis. He has stepped foot in every square inch of it and yet he doesn't remember ever owning that dress. Oh well, he had to be surprised by something every couple hundred years.

No, no, no. He was never surprised by anything. What was going on?

"And what would your names be?"

The Doctor snapped out of his mental dilemma and stammered, "Sorry? What was that?"

"I said, what are your names?" The guard looked like he completely hated his job.

"I am the Doctor and this is Ms. Ruby Solange." The Doctor flashed the psychic paper at the guard and noticed Ruby look at it with a curious expression

.

After he allowed them through Ruby pulled the Doctor aside into a small empty room off to the left and stared him right in the face. "That paper was blank, Doctor."

"No it wasn't."

Ruby looked at him without wavering her expression. "Don't lie to me, Doctor. If there is one thing that I can't stand, it's being lied to." And it was true. She was lied to enough in her life and for the moment she needed sincere honesty.

"This paper, " he pulled out the wallet, "is called psychic paper. Only someone with terrific mind power would be able to tell that it was blank. If I want someone to think that I am—."

"The police." Ruby looked murderous.

"Y-yeah. And it will sh-show them what ever will get them to b-believe me." The Doctor looked at her and the fire in her eyes truly and honestly scared him. He has never been scared. Well he has been scared, many times actually, but never of a human. And certainly never of a small woman that looked as if she couldn't hurt a fly. "B-but you knew that I lied to you. Why are you angry now?"

Her mind was clouded with anger and she couldn't even hear the words coming out of his mouth. Ruby saw his lips moving and saw, in his eyes, the slight fear. She didn't think that she could scare him. She had never scared anyone in her life without kicking him or her in the gut. She had hardly uttered a word and she had frightened the Doctor. Of course she had never been this angry before either. She had to get away. She had always kept her anger under control, but once she was with the doctor for too long she became frazzled and discombobulated.

What was wrong with her?

The Doctor watched Ruby's expression change from anger to wonder to fright in a matter of seconds. And suddenly, without warning, he watched her look straight into his eyes, almost into his soul, and then run out of the room. Before he could process what had just happened, he stood, for a split second, staring at the blank spot where she had stood and subconsciously wishing she were still there.

"Ruby!" the Doctor shouted. He ran out of the room and through an open pair of double doors about ten feet high. Classical music filled his ears and he looked around to find himself in the middle of a dance floor, and a rather large one at that. With a sigh he walked off of the floor and sat down at one of the small tables arranged around the room. It was a table set for two with expensive silver plates and crystal goblets. He ignored the people crowded around and looked at the fortune of the room.

It was incredibly vast and had a beautiful marble staircase that seemed to bleed right into the dance floor, which appeared to also be made out of marble. The walls, however, looked to be curtains hung against the wall making the room appear even more lavish than it already was. Every several feet there were seven-foot tall candelabras with beautiful red candles in them. In the corner of the room was a small orchestra playing Beethoven's 9th symphony and scattered all around the room were tables identical to his own apart from the fact that at his table only one seat was filled.

There was a table with one empty seat, however, with all of the people standing around and dancing with their partners he couldn't see who was sitting there. All he could make out were the shoes. The green heels gave away the mysterious person's gender. The Doctor tried his best to look around the people, but was unsuccessful. Fortunately something distracted a small bunch of people and he finally had a view of the full table.

"Ruby!"

Ruby whipped her head around to find the Doctor making his way through the crowd toward her. "Oh no," she whispered to herself. "Not now, doctor." She had been sitting there thinking that he wouldn't find her through all of the guests gathered around that table. While sitting their Ruby was trying to sort out the mess in her head and she couldn't do that with the Doctor there. It was a simple sorting of needs and wants.

No matter how much she wanted to be with the Doctor right then, she needed to be alone.

She got up and started heading towards the staircase.

"Ruby!" Ruby started to walk faster, trying as hard as she could to ignore the Doctor. "Ruby, come back!"

She ran up the staircase and heard the Doctor's footsteps close behind her. Through a hallway brightly lit with candles, Ruby ran until she almost twisted her ankle. She stopped for a moment to kick off her shoes but that single moment was one moment too long. She had only one of her shoes off when she felt a hand around her waist and was forcefully spun around. Ruby looked up at the Doctor and felt the abnormal amount of strength holding her to the spot.

"Listen, I'm sorry I lied to you. Just don't run away from me," he said.

"Why shouldn't I?" For some reason she couldn't bring herself to tell the Doctor that she needed a few minutes alone.

He remained quiet for a second or two and in that moment she knew that he wasn't going to tell her. Then he tried to change the mood of the conversation. "I understand why you're upset, Ruby."

"No you don't."

"What?" The Doctor felt like he was hit in the face with an oar.

"You could never understand what is making me upset! Hell, I don't even understand what's wrong with me?"

"Ruby?" the Doctor said softly.

"What?!" she snapped.

"Are you-are you crying?"


	7. Chapter 7

Her lungs were burning until she let out a cough and felt water flow up her trachea and out of her mouth

And indeed she was. She hadn't even realized her face was wet with tears until now and that just made her even more upset. Ruby never cried. Never. And if she ever felt the need, she would never cry in front of someone. She couldn't control it now, though. They just kept falling. God damn it! She wrenched herself from the doctor s grip and ran a few feet farther down the hallway and into an empty bedroom.

Ruby slammed the door shut and the Doctor ran down the hallway. He stood in front of the door and was about to knock on the door when he suddenly felt horrible. He made her cry. He made Ruby cry. What did he say to do that to her? He sat down on the floor and adjusted him self so that his back was leaning on the door. He would just have to wait.

"Doctor?" Ruby braved that one single word out loud.

"Yeah, I'm right here." She heard his comforting voice from the hallway. Ruby was still getting over what had just happened so she left the door closed and just sat with her back to it.

"I'm sorry." She sighed; she was completely exhausted from crying. "I am so sorry. I just-"

"Needed some time alone?"

"Yeah. I mean sure you made me mad, but it wasn't your fault that I ran off."

Ruby heard the Doctor heave a large sigh and say, "I'm sorry too, Ruby."

"What are you sorry about? You didn't do anything."

"Well, I did make you cry."

Ruby thought for a moment and laughed.

"What are you laughing at me for?! It's not funny. I don't know what I did to make you cry, but I'm still apologizing and you're laughing at me!"

"Yes, I'm laughing at you." Ruby lightly shook her head. "Because you are such an arrogant prick. I wasn't crying because of you."

"You weren't?" the Doctor sounded completely relieved and at the same time perplexed.

"No. You didn't make me cry."

"Well, then why were you crying?"

She stopped and thought. She was crying because she was losing herself. She had lost control of her emotions and didn't know what to do. She had been Ruby Solange for 26 years and never had she been unaware of what she was going to do next. She was breaking down over some things and didn't even know why. And it was the worst when she was near the Doctor. He made it tough for her to think, to breathe, to walk.

"Imagine what it's like having all of your emotions bouncing around in your mind, in your grasp. Now imagine them bouncing around just out of arms reach, taunting you at the line of the fence that you can't cross. Let's just say that until yesterday, they were all contained and controlled for as long as I can remember."

There was a while there, where they had just stayed on either sides of the door. Every once in a while, Ruby would get up and walk around the room and sit down in one of the armchairs. The Doctor might get up and walk down the hallway and sit back down. While Ruby was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed beneath her dress, just staring at her hands for no reason, she heard the door handle twist down. In came the Doctor, and he only leaned on the dresser and looked at Ruby.

He was a bit curious that Ruby hadn't locked the door, but was distracted the moment he walked in the room. Ruby's mascara had run down her face and the bun in her hair was gone and it fell down and curled slightly around her shoulders. It even looked like she was pulling at her hair a bit. She was distraught and he wasn't sure if he should be next to her or not. He looked at her face again and saw her staring at him with those eyes that held so much mystery. But now all he could see in them was fright, and sadness. And maybe a touch of anger, but it all said one thing. She was alone.

Like him.

He quickly made his way over to the bed and sat down next to her. He didn't really know what to do so he just sat there. He watched her take a tissue from the nightstand and wipe off her mascara. She then flipped her head over and used her fingers to quickly comb through her hair. When she sat back up she looked up at him.

"You wanted to know why I was mad at you after the fact that you lied to me."

"Oh, Ruby. You don't have to-"

"No, you should know." She took a deep breath and exhaled it. "I knew that you lied to me, but I wasn't mad until I found out that you messed with my head with that stupid psychic paper. I felt like you had crawled into my head," into the one place where she could hide. "Like you had opened up a diary and used it against me."

The doctor fell into her eyes and felt her sincere fright that he had gone through her mind and found something. "Ruby, I didn't go through your head. In a way, the paper did. It finds something that you will believe and then displays it." Ruby seemed content with that explanation. "Do you want to go back downstairs? We could meet the princess."

Ruby's face went from blank to full of excited wonder. "Really? Wouldn't she have body guards or something?" She jumped up and almost ran out the door if it wasn't for the fact that she had one shoe on. She instantly tripped and miraculously fell into the armchair that she had sat in before.

The Doctor laughed at the sight of her sitting there in childish defeat. She even crossed her arms and pouted. "Aww! Poor Ruby." He smiled, and then said, "Maybe I can help."

Ruby watched as the Doctor knelt down in front of her and pulled her green shoe out of the inside of his coat pocket. She didn't bother asking. She knew it had to be timelord science. His hand gently held her foot as he slipped the on the shoe. "Would you look at that? A perfect fit. Cinderella would be jealous."

Ruby smiled as he helped her up. Yeah. Ruby doubted that Cinderella's prince charming was as handsome as the Doctor.

"Did we turn left or right, Doctor?"

"How should I know? You were the one who ran down here."

She gave him a small death glare. "Too soon Pluto."

The Doctor looked at Ruby curiously. "Pluto?"

"Yeah, I'm trying it on." Ruby watched the doctor roll his eyes slightly and look around at his surroundings. He looked left for a few seconds and then right. He then peeked through a few doors and came back with a confused expression on his face. "Are we lost?"

"No. We're not lost. I never get lost."

"Until now."

"No! I- I know where I am." He gripped his hair and scrunched his nose slightly. He then walked back and forth in a fast pace. "I just- We came from- What?!" Ruby was leaning on one leg and tapping her foot with her hand on her hip. She gave him a look that was somewhere between laughter and loving annoyance. She was amused by him.

"Oh, nothing." She didn't have to say what was on her mind.

"We are not lost. Soon enough you're going to have me asking directions from the next person to pass us."

Ruby rolled her eyes and said, "Did you open all of the doors?"

"Yes." The Doctor stopped pacing looked at Ruby. Her face had a mischievous look about it. He wasn't sure if that was good or not. "What's going through your head, Ruby?" She only smiled at the Doctor and started to walk down the hallway. "Stop. You don't even know where you're going."

"You're right. I don't." And yet she kept walking. "We're already lost, so what harm could be done by exploring a little. You can't say that you're not the least bit curious about the contents of this castle."


	8. Chapter 8

Her lungs were burning until she let out a cough and felt water flow up her trachea and out of her mouth

Ruby wandered through the halls of the castle with the Doctor close behind. The hundreds of identical doors that they had passed were full of identical furniture. The Doctor was opening doors of his own and finding each one indistinguishable from the previous one.

But, then something caught Ruby's eye. All of the doors contained elaborate carvings and beautiful metal accents except for one. All of the way at the end of the hallway Ruby could spot a door of plain wood and with large iron hinges. Without looking back she called, "Doctor? You should come see this." She received no response, but all the same the curiosity that was building inside of her kept her feet moving. There was something strange about that door. It was almost out of place.

No it wasn't the door. It was the entire hallway. Once Ruby reached the door she realized that the carpet had ended and the stone floor was visible. The candelabras were nowhere to be found except for two torches on the walls. Once again she called, "Doctor?" Still, there was no reply. Oh well. He couldn't say that she didn't try.

Ruby's hand closed around the rusted iron handle. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

The Doctor's ears perked up as he heard the unmistakable sound of a heavy door creaking open. He shut the desk drawer that he was looking through and started to walk across the large room toward the hallway. Then he heard another distinctive sound. That same door that he heard before had closed. He reached the hallway and immediately panicked. Ruby was nowhere to be found.

"Aw, come on! I told her not to wander off. Brilliant, just brilliant." He huffed and looked around for any door that could have made that sound. His eyes fell on the last door in the hallway and he rolled his eyes. "Can't blame her though. It is an interesting door." The curiosity that constantly coursed through his veins pulled him towards that door earlier but he resisted the temptation to put Ruby in any danger.

His hand found the large handle and he pulled with all his might. A stone spiral staircase immediately greeted the Doctor. "Ruby?" He paused with his left foot on the first stair. "Where are you?" Still nothing was heard. He walked up the next several steps and once again called out, "Ruby?"

"I'm over here." He heard an annoyed sigh come from up the staircase. "You're a pain, you know that?"

The Doctor walked up the stairs until he saw Ruby standing there with her hands on her hips and her wait shifted to one side. He had to admit she did look rather silly standing like that in such an elegant dress, but right now he was a little offended that she could call him a pain. "What do you mean? You're the one who wandered off when I specifically said not to. As far as I'm concerned you're becoming a thorn in my side."

"Ha! I've got you there. You were so busy searching through the boring rooms that you didn't hear me calling your name."

"You did not call my name," he denied.

"Oh, yes I did."

"Well, I didn't hear you, so you must not have."

"I'm not denying that you didn't hear me, because you were in your own little world. You wouldn't have heard a bomb siren! I called your name twice."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"Nuh-uh.

"Yeah-huh,"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"Will you two please can it?!"

The Doctor and Ruby stopped screaming, with their faces inches apart, and turned their attention towards the rather rude voice that had come from the top of the stairs. Ruby was the first to hike up the skirt of her dress and go up the stairs. The Doctor was only a step behind her. They stepped on a stone floor and Ruby called out, "Hello?"

"Well, hello?" She spun to her left and found a man behind bars looking at her with a perverted look on his face. "And what might your name be?"

"I think I should be asking the questions." The Doctor protectively stepped in front of Ruby. "My name is the Doctor, but judging by the circumstances," He gazed at the bars and cobweb infested corners, "I think that your name is more important here."

"Why, I'm Thomas Seymour."

"You're the one that had an affair with the Princess." Ruby pushed the Doctor aside, not only because she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but also for a better look at the man behind the bars. He had long scraggly hair and a horribly unkempt beard. "How long have you been locked up like this?"

"Oh, maybe a day."

That meant that he always kept his appearance that way. One day was not enough time to become that disheveled.

"You still haven't given me your name, sweetheart."

"And you'll never get it. Now, Mr. Seymour-"

"Please, call me Tom."

Ruby let out a sound of disgust. "Never. What did you get locked up in here for?"

The Doctor looked at her with a warning in his eyes. "Ruby, I wouldn't ask anymore questions. Let's just leave."

"So it's Ruby, is it?" Seymour chuckled.

She elbowed the Doctor hard in the ribs. "Nice going."

"Sorry, about that."

"Liar."

"Ok, maybe I'm not _that_ sorry."

"I knew it."

"Well, I do mean it sometimes. It's just that he's locked in a cell and going to be hanged. What harm can he do with your name? And in this century, he would never find anything. Now let's just go."

Ignoring the Doctor, Ruby stared at the man before her. "How could it be that you're being arrested for an affair, when it's not even illegal."

"Search me."

"Again, never. Ya know what I think?" She paused for dramatic affect. "I think that none of this was her fault. I think that you raped her."

"What does this word mean?"

"What?!" She slowly turned to face the Doctor who only nervously smiled. "You could have stopped me anytime."

"I-I tried, but you wouldn't listen."

"Yeah, well I do that a lot when I'm angry. You're going to have to yell at me next time."

"Can we just go, now, before you create any other new words or free a dangerous criminal?"

Ruby crossed her arms and huffed. "Fine."

The doctor smiled. "Good."

As Ruby turned toward the stairs she felt her dress lightly snag something but in less than a second the tension was gone and her dress was free. She didn't bother to check what it had snagged on, because she saw no point in fixing something that didn't need to be fixed. Instead she held the Doctor's hand for support as she descended the stairs on her heels. Why in the world was his hand so warm all of the time? She didn't understand it in the slightest, but she did enjoy it. "Doctor?" she asked.

He noticed something in her voice that made him turn to her at the bottom of the stairs. "What is it?"

"I just wanted to say thank you."

"Your welcome. I mean those shoes are like daggers."

"I didn't mean that." She paused for a moment and continued. "Thanks for stopping me up there. Ya know, before I did anything stupid?"

"As long as you do the same for me. And believe me you'll have your chance soon."

Ruby chuckled, "I don't doubt it." She then opened the door and said, "Aprés vous, Doctor."

"Merci," he grinned from ear to ear.


	9. Chapter 9

Ruby was relieved as she descended the staircase. She was glad to be away from Thomas Seymour, but at the same time she was curious. "Doctor?"

"Yeah?"

"Didn't Seymour seem a bit too…" she searched for the right words.

"Calm?" the Doctor finished her sentence for her.

"Yeah." Ruby stopped and leaned against the fabric-lined walls. She ran her fingers through her hair untangling her bun and letting her hair fall around her face. The doctor was amazed how perfectly her ever-changing hair framed her face. "Any normal person would have been stressed out, or in denial, or…something!"

"Well," He leaned against the wall as well and looked straight at her without a blink. "I don't think we should press it any further."

Ruby stared right back. "Doctor? Are you lecturing me?"

He was exhausted when it came to reasoning with her. He wanted to grab her shoulders and shake some sense into her. "Listen, if we delve farther into this it can land us in a lot of trouble. Normally I'm all for snooping around, but in this case something really bad could happen. We can't cross into established events."

Curiosity smacked Ruby in the face once more. "Who's "we"? Who did you mean when you said we?"

The Doctor pushed his head back in puzzlement. "I didn't say that, did I?"

Ruby would have noticed the rather attractive look on his face if it weren't for the pulsing headache that she felt at the base of her skull. Instinctively her hand went to touch it and she let out a wince. "Yeah, I guess we should forget about it. I'm starting to get a major headache."

Suddenly, a man ran down the steps of the staircase screaming to get the hall's attention. "Everybody! Princess! Everybody!" The Hall quieted down and every set of eyes was gazing upon this strange man. His breathing was fast and his mouth lipped silent words as his voice temporarily left him. Once he caught his breathe he shouted to the entire room the news that neither Ruby nor the Doctor wanted to hear. "The prisoner…He has…" after a long exasperated gasp he exclaimed, "The prisoner has escaped!"

At that moment there was a heat in the room that couldn't be explained. The Princess was positively fuming and at that moment her eyes locked with the Doctor's.

Ruby noticed it as well. "Oh no! Do you think that she noticed us coming down the stairs?"

"I don't know, but I'll tell you what. She's got to have some reason for walking this way." He looked over and Princess Elizabeth was making a beeline toward the Doctor. He straightened up and stared right back at her, but never made an attempt to walk closer to her. Ruby thought that a bold move, because as far as she was concerned the future queen of England had higher rank than the Doctor.

When Elizabeth stood in front of the Doctor it was almost comical. They seemed to be staring each other down waiting to see who would make the first move. It was a game of Chess. Each player was trying to think of which pawn to set forward, while trying to predict the other's next move.

With a sharp glare, that wasn't exactly threatening, the Doctor spoke. "Hello, Princess." He only slightly bowed his head resembling the smallest amount of respect. "My name is the Doctor and this is my friend Ruby." And the pawn moves forward.

Ruby took after the Doctor and gave the Princess something that could hardly be called a curtsy, but either way the woman couldn't complain. "Good evening." Ruby quickly turned on her British accent like a light switch.

"Good Evening to the both of you. I saw the two of you coming down the stairs several moments ago. Under that circumstances I must ask what you were doing up there." Gees! For a 16 year old, Princess Elizabeth was a hell of a lot more mature than Ruby expected her to be. Little things, such as her posture and just the way that she held herself told Ruby that she was not a force to be reckoned with.

"Well," The doctor started, but paused to find the proper words that wouldn't set this woman of royalty off. He had his reasons to stammer, for he know that in a decade or so he would run into Elizabeth as a Queen and she would be wanting his head for reasons unknown to him. "You see, it's like this…"

Ruby saw that the Doctor was stuck and stepped in front of him. "Oh, don't pay him any mind. He doesn't exactly think straight when he hasn't had enough rest." The Doctor gaped at her, amazed at how easily she pulled the Princess's attention away from him. "Now, why else would anyone go up those beautiful stairs?" She looked at the Princess trying to engage her in conversation.

"I don't know."

"Oh, open your eyes, Elizabeth. Not everyone is royalty. Seeing a staircase as grand as that, would just mean that the rest of the castle is just as beautifully furnished." Ruby then gave a quick glance to the Doctor. "My husband and I are naturally curious." The look on his face was absolutely priceless. "We couldn't help ourselves. We have, but a humble home. You can understand that, can't you?"

Elizabeth smiled and said, "Of course. I'm sorry to interrogate you like this, but you can never be too sure who to trust."

He couldn't believe it. Ruby had earned the Princess's trust. He was utterly baffled. How had she done that with only a few sentences? She was truly a perplexing creature. Something about Ruby wasn't completely human, but it wouldn't make sense if she were alien. It just wouldn't. She looked completely human and he could hear her heart beating. She was human all right. Human with something extra. But what was that extra something that made his mind go berserk.

His thoughts were interrupted by a wild yell that rang throughout the Hall. It made the doctor spin around causing his shoulder to knock over one of the candelabras. Within moments the walls were catching and it took the guests no time to notice. Before long there were people running in every direction and screaming. They were breathing in the smoke and panicking. They were panicking.

They were all panicking and she was trapped. She was no longer in the castle but on the floor of a bathroom. She could feel her own terror building, while people were unaware of her screams, for there were so many other screams that filled the building. She couldn't do anything, but claw at the door until her fingers bled. As the smoke filled her lungs her screams were barely audible and she started to crawl to the other end of the bathroom and with her mind becoming clouded she couldn't remember where she was. But the ice-cold floor felt like heaven against her fingertips. With constant coughing she curled herself on the floor and pressed her face into the tile. She tried as hard as she could not to feel horrible for not being able to remember why there were screams outside and whom they belonged to. Her vision started to fail. She wasn't going to make it. Her friends wouldn't even recognize her body after this was all over and done with. That's what scared her the most. The death itself.

The bathroom swirled out of place and she was back in the castle of Princess Elizabeth. But her lungs were still filling with smoke. She looked around and no time seemed to have passed. Without a second thought Ruby ran up the staircase as everyone else ran down ignoring the screams of fright and the Doctor's frantic shout. "Ruby! Come back."

As she ran she couldn't help but feel immensely frustrated by him. Someone had just screamed from upstairs and he wasn't worried that if they were hurt. The flames could trap them. It had happened to her and she didn't want it to happen to anyone else. Well, she thinks that it had happened to her.

It was considerably quieter once Ruby traveled down the hallway. Running down the hallway she wasn't really sure what to do. Checking each and every room would take too much time and time was something that she didn't have. All of a sudden she heard a scream. It was the same scream that had been heard before. Ruby kicked off her shoes and ran toward the only door in that specific hallway. She expected it to be locked but when she tried the knob it easily squeaked open. Stepping in the room Ruby felt her mind grow uneasy. Something wasn't right. The room looked empty until she walked farther into the room and heard the heavy door close and lock.

She spun around and saw the last man that she wanted to be locked in a room with. Thomas Seymour.


	10. Chapter 10

Ruby couldn't believe it. How could she have been so stupid! Why in the world would she decide to stay in a burning building with a 16th century criminal on the loose? There was no time to kick herself though, because said criminal was now slowly walking towards her.

"Oh goodness," he feigned concern, "I'm so glad someone heard my desperate cry for help." He kept his distance. Smart, because if he even came within arms reach of her she'd have him on the floor begging for mercy.

"You really are a sick bastard." Ruby knew that the Doctor would be here soon. She knew he would.

"As a matter of fact I am." He smiled, but it didn't warm her from her toes up. It chilled her spine and made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

"So, would you mind telling me from where you came?"

The best thing to do was to keep him talking and at a safe distance. The Doctor would show up. "Why should I tell you that?"

"Curiosity, love."

Ugh! He repulsed her in a way that was inconceivable. And who gave him the right to call her "love?" She grimaced at the predatory hunger on his face. She could only imagine the horrendous thoughts that were crawling through his mind. Just the thought made her nauseous. Where in the world was the Doctor.

"Yeah, well curiosity did kill the cat," she narrowed her eyes at him.

He only looked at her and chuckled. Oh, how she hated being patronized. "Is that a threat? Why," he gave a quick once-over, "I don't think you could harm a fly."

Oh, how she hated to be patronized. He took a step closer and without hesitation Ruby took a step backwards, keeping her eyes on the odious man than now stood before her. "Yes, it was a threat. Now, keep your distance!"

She slowly stepped out of her shoes, preparing to fight for her life. Out of the corner of her eye she could see smoke pouring through the space beneath the door. It was starting to feel like a really bad horror film that she couldn't escape from.

"If only I could ignore that temptation."

Oh, yeah. Just a crash of lighting would make this Oscar worthy. I guess having the room slowly fill with smoke makes up for it.

"And as I said before," Seymour said, "you wont have the strength to fight."

He took another step and Ruby only backed up further. "Try me."

"I plan to." Ruby's back hit the wall and suddenly she was cornered.

The Doctor kept staring up at the building waiting for a sign from Ruby. He would just as quickly run up there himself, but the princess' guard was holding him back.

"Listen to me. My friend is up there and could be in a lot of trouble. Please you have to let me go!" he pleaded.

"I can't do that sir."

He groaned in impatience. "Ok. Yes, I started this fire, but it wasn't intentional. Come on. If you were me would you be sitting here quietly?" The man didn't answer. The Doctor really didn't want to do what he knew he had to do. Luckily, he knew that the pain would be temporary. Excruciating, but temporary. "I'm sorry. Really, I am so sorry." With a kick of his leg he brought the man to his knees clutching his groin in agony.

And with that he ran into the burning building.

Immediately he ran through the first set of doors and encountered a wall of flames. The fabric that had lined the walls was wholly engulfed in flames. The beautiful tables were now being reduced to hot coals that only fed the fire. But he didn't care about the danger surrounding him. He had to get to the other side of the room to the staircase.

Without hesitation he ran through the flames and ash and almost tripped up the stairs taking them three at a time.

Now if he only knew what room she was in.

Thomas stepped closer toward Ruby and she only stared at him. She was scared, but never would she show it. "How did you escape?"

"Well, I didn't really escape. You released me, Ruby." He laughed for a moment, before he took one more step closer. "Your dress caught on the latch of the door that was keeping me in there."

She couldn't believe it. It was all her fault.

She started to cough as the smoke filled the room and her lungs. But something distracted her thoughts. Seymour had placed his hand on her shoulder and that was her limit. He could talk to her and inch as close as he wanted, but he couldn't touch her.

With her other arm she grabbed his wrist and twisted it back. The surprise on his face was unmistakable. She let go and realized that she shouldn't have. He got up and moved to grab her, but she was too quick. She sidestepped him and he faced her once more. This time she was ready. She bounced on her toes and kicked him in the side. It must have hurt because for a moment there he couldn't breathe, and neither could Ruby. The smoke was starting to fill her lungs and left her gasping for air. But she had to finish with him. If she were going to die she'd die fighting.

Thomas Seymour staggered up onto his feet and had a murderous look on his face. He lunged toward her and she only thrust her palm upwards breaking his nose and punched him in the ribs. He dropped like a wet noodle.

At that moment the door was thrown open and there stood the Doctor amidst the smoke. He took one look at the man on the floor and gaped at Ruby in shock until he noticed that she was coughing beyond all reason. He rushed to her side just as she collapsed into his arms from a lack of oxygen.


	11. Chapter 11

The Doctor sat down on the edge of his bed and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyelids. He stilled his body as stars burst before him. With a few shaking breaths he straightened up and tried to think it through. He had run into a burning building to save someone that he had only met a day ago. Wait, scratch that. He looked at his watch and saw that it was three in the morning. Two days ago is when he met Ruby and took her onto the TARDIS. It seemed like so long ago, as if he'd been with her for months. He rolled his eyes and massaged his temples.

He only knew her for one day and he felt an odd connection to her. Before he had burst into that room he knew that something besides the fire was keeping her there. He recognized that there was someone that managed to trap her into a room. The surge of emotions that had gone through him was unmistakable. Somehow Ruby's thoughts had transpired to him as if she had been calling out for help. For his help.

Not to mention that just as he opened that door he witnessed Thomas Seymour's body fall to the ground and Ruby's fist retracting back. For that brief moment the doctor swelled with enormous pride. That was until he felt this huge pain surge through his head.

Ruby was thrown to the floor and her legs and arms were so tired, but it was old news. She's been exhausted for hours. With as much strength as she could muster, Ruby lifted her self off of the floor so that she could look at her attacker. His face was blurred, but she could feel the hatred that pulsed through her veins. Though his face was obscure, Ruby could clearly see the dagger that he had in his grip. He had her cornered against a blue wall and she had no means of escaping, but he stopped for a moment and Ruby could feel a drop of water fall onto her leg. Although her anger seethed she could feel no hatred or contempt from her attacker. Ruby, with no more energy welcomed the strike with her lack of resistance. When the blade struck her chest there was no pain. Her vision only faded away and all her senses ceased to function. No longer could she touch, see, taste, or smell, but just as her hearing left her she heard a whisper. "Ruby, I'll be with you again. I promise."

Ruby's eyes snapped open and began to hyperventilate. The Doctor watched her wince and instinctively placed her hand at the base of her skull. He was by her side in an instant helping her to sit upright. Amazed at his own speed he hesitated a moment before he put his hand on her thigh to stabilize her body as he slid his other hand under her back and hoisted her upright.

"I could've done it myself, you know." Her voice was raspy from the large amount of smoke that she had inhaled.

"Right, I'll just let go then." The Doctor took his hand away but he could feel her body's lack of function and she began to fall back onto her bed, but he was right there to prevent that from happening. How had one little dream have incapacitated her to this point? "Ruby, what's wrong?"

He watched her chest slowly rise and fall as she took a deep breath. "I really don't know, but this dream was the third one that I had of me dying. Its starting to really eat away at me."

"What do you mean, "third one?" I didn't know that you had another dream."

"That's it though. It wasn't a dream, because it happened while I was awake. It happened right before I had run into the castle." The Doctor made no sound, only looked down and waited for Ruby to continue recapitulating what had occurred the night before. "I was running up the stairs and I went somewhere else. I was in what looked to be a bathroom and I was trapped. And I was dying because the entire place was filled with smoke." There was something I that brief explanation that Ruby had left out, but the Doctor didn't press the matter any further.

He was curious though. He watched Ruby apply pressure to the sides of her and slowly moved her fingers in a circular motion. At that moment the pain in his head started to ease. What was happening? Without another word he got up to leave her to get some rest, and partially because being around her made him feel things that he didn't even understand. But he felt a soft hand tug on his jacket. "Don't go. Please, I need someone here with me."

The look on her face never wavered beneath the beautiful exterior he saw the lonely feelings that had shifted at the thought of him leaving the room. She was pleading. He gave in and instead of sitting down on the chair he crossed his legs on the bed. He looked at her and couldn't help but notice how her hair rolled across her shoulders. He let his eyes drift down to the curve of her waist and couldn't help but recall his hand lying there just several hours earlier.

How could Ruby have let him walk away. She couldn't come to terms with what she was feeling, but she knew that she wanted to feel the warmth of his hand again. She knew that she could let herself fall for hours into those deep brown eyes. Ruby knew that without him by her side, she would feel empty again only because when she met him everything seemed to fall in place. But at the same time everything can be rather chaotic.

"Ruby?"

"What?" Her voice was rather breathy and it made him react so strangely, but he had to do this.

"This may sound odd, but I need to look through your memories. I have to see if these dreams you're having are even dreams."

"But I'm perfectly healthy and alive. In all of my dreams I died."

"That's why I have to do this." Then he lightly placed his fingers on her temples and she instinctively closed her eyes. He walked down the hallways of her mind and saw the doors that opened to different memories. He opened them and saw only very recent memories. And the emotions attached to the memories were so strong. Everyday that she was working there seemed to be an emptiness that never went away when she went home to her apartment. But where were her memories of America. It was as if her childhood didn't exist. Farther down the hallway there were more doors but they were actually boarded up.

"Ruby? Do you see the doors that I'm looking at?"

"Yeah." Suddenly Ruby was in front of him in her torn and charred dress. They ran their fingers over the wood and Ruby realized that some of the nails were missing. Without thinking, she gripped her hands around the wood. The Doctor went to stop her, but it was too late. She gave one large tug, and although the board didn't release itself, she yelled out in pain.

Ruby was back in her room with the Doctor holding her. Her hands gripped the sides of her head and she let out another yell. She only sat there and he rocked back and forth. The pain was almost unbearable. If it wasn't for the Doctor being there she would surely had been on the floor twisted in pain.

He could feel the terrible pain in his own mind and when she had pulled on that door something happened to him. An image of him and a woman, a timelady, sitting in a field together. Just smiling and laughing. Her hair was a dark brown with cascading curls, they were having such a good time, until the explosion came.

The memory went away as quickly as it had come and he sat there on the bed holding Ruby, not only for her sake but also for his.


End file.
